Commentary by Susan Nidle

December 29, 1997

Dear Readers:

Greetings to you. Thank you for your correspondence and
thoughts. Thank you for taking time to read this commentary during the
holiday season.

By the time you read this, a New Year will have just about
dawned. I suppose it will be two or three years until we can consider the
century over. Until we reach the end of the year 2000 — the start of the
new millennium. I remember thinking about this years ago: it seemed so
far away, then. The path to this moment has not been a linear one: it has
been reached through switchbacks and meanderings. Nevertheless, here we
all are.

On December 23, Sheldon’s update mentioned that lately,
"much has happened that cannot and should not be spoken about."
Very true. And most likely not spoken of because, as in the old metaphysical
tradition, to verbalize or sound out an idea before it unfolds will take
away its power and intent. That is why, when a child blows out birthday
candles, she/he is told to make a wish, but not to tell anybody what it
is “or you’ll spoil it". So we all are waiting for our birthday wish.
We are holding our thoughts and crossing our fingers. We are waiting with
our eyes squinted shut!

That is why the rituals we are (hopefully) keeping up
are so important. Always, on this level, before something happens physically,
it must penetrate all the dense layers from the soul down to our 3-D world.
Through our mental, emotional, etheric and physical bodies, and not in
a straight line. but more in a kind of 3-D spiral. So we must build the
images and thoughts and bring them down through the soul bridge, through
the power of our group mind which "they" have been helping us
to build.

The rainbow bridge (the "Antakharana" in Sanskrit)
is the bridge to the soul. It has been constructed, over the past years,
by our tremendous group effort. It is the means by which the message of
our soul is carried to this level and made real. From the soul to our 3-D
world, the bridge is built through the desire, thought and need of every
one of us. This bridge is strengthened by our rapidly growing ability to
link up with our own souls, with each other, and with those "guys
upstairs". There is nothing odd or spooky in all of this. It is actually
quite "logical" and beautiful. A network of light around the
planet, built by our conscious and unconscious efforts.

People write to me of their desire to see the change
happen NOW. Well, desire is a useful tool. At a soul level, it is the energy
that binds us together. If we had no desire at this level, nothing would
be done. No one would be "attracted" to each other and we would
die off quickly. Our physical world would fall apart! Like anything else
here, desire can be a positive energy. What matters is how it is utilized.
Why not channel the impatient form of our desire for the big change, into
useful outlets?

In other words, instead of panting for the "time"
to arrive, we must use our energy in other ways. At this point, let me
ramble a little about time. Time is really a figment of our imagination.
It is just another force to be worked with. It is not something that should
rule us. (Have you ever “lost” time? Lately, haven’t you frequently felt
that time has passed more quickly than it used to? People at work say this
to me continually, and I don’t think it is just because we are all growing
older!) Time IS different lately. It is spun upon itself. It is twisted
and spiraled. As we wait, we must remember that. When we meditate or pray,
can we count the minutes? In those altered states of dreaming, meditating
or day-dreaming to which we are becoming ever more accustomed, there is
no clock, there are no days, months or years. One night last year, as three
of us witnessed some “ships” “working on the water” we lost about two hours
of time. Where did it go? Do we care?

Realize that most of the world’s indigenous people are
of the belief that there is to be an imminent change. In the next few years,
the planets will go into a major alignment. The magnetic fields are changing,
and many religions speak about the "end times". I don’t think
this is just because the millennium is approaching. How did the Mayans,
the Hopi, the Australian aborigines and many others know all this? They
didn’t use the Gregorian calendar! Readers, the change will come, and when
it arrives, some may say, "Wait! We’re not ready yet, can’t we have
a few more months!?" The inevitable happens on its own cosmic schedule.
Our job is to prepare ourselves and to help each other to get through this.
That is why we are here now. (Do you agree?)

I remember how Krishnamurti, a great no-nonsense Indian
spiritual teacher (who died, at over ninety, more than ten years ago),
would harp on the need to ‘Wake Up’. In the old world, it was easy to sleep.
For some people, things continued from one generation to the next without
much difference. The path of least resistance led people to slumber. Think
of how hard it is now to bury our heads in the sand and pretend that NOTHING
is changing! We have to make an incredible effort NOT to see that much
of the world’s structures (banking, economics, education, government, healthcare)
are falling apart. True, many are still in denial, but they are not in
a blissful state. They are in a fearful denial.

The way I see it, the path of least resistance for the
majority of people is actually becoming the path of seeking the light.
The light is the way out of fear and into refuge, as the rest is becoming
rapidly darker and darker. The polarity is now apparent, whereas before
it was unclear. "You wanted clarity!" I can hear "them"
laughing up there. "They" are throwing their bowling balls as
Washington Irving described in his story. In the past, didn’t we ask for
clarity in our lives? Well, here it is. Be careful what you pray for. You
may get it, in all of its trembling glory. A friend sent me a book on Mother
Mary for Solstice, Christmas/Hanukkah, or whatever you may call the celebration.
Written by Janice T. Connell, it is called “Meetings With Mary”. In 1980,
the Queen of Heaven appeared to Bernardo, a 50-year-old Indian from Nicaragua.
I’ll pick one of many recent apparitions to illustrate a point. "The
Lord does not want material churches and temples to be built to honor Him.
He wants each of you to be a living temple in which He is invited to dwell.
In you is the gratification for the Lord. Love each other...The Churches
and Temples are you, each of you!"(page 162) And some of us are surprised
that attendance at organized religious gatherings has declined to about
25% in this country.

She also told him, "Charity is a way of life that
builds up humanity and the world. Pardon each other and make peace. Do
not ask for peace unless you make peace. I am your mother who never forgets
her children." She said she is a refugee. In Tibetan Buddhism, we
are asked to take refuge in the Buddha. In the old prayer to the Goddess,
she says, " Whenever you have need of me .... I am the Mother of All
Living, and My love is poured out upon the waters. I am the Beauty of the
Green Earth, and the White Moon among the Stars."

She/He is the same however we choose to see her, whether
it is as White Buffalo Calf Woman, Buddha, Mary — it is the Goddess. But
in order to help that connection and energy to stream in, we need to humble
our minds to a place where we surrender our time-oriented thoughts and
give it all up. So whatever "ritual" serves as our path of least
resistance, whether it be in prayer, meditation, dreaming, visualization,
or whatever else, we must employ it in our quest to do service to this
energy. That is all “they” are asking. Without a doubt, the other side
of the coin of all this is practical service. In our lives, we must do
whatever inspiring acts of charity and kindness stir our hearts. These
acts will also serve to focus this energy and to make it a reality sooner.

Twenty-five years ago, John Lennon was laughed at for
voicing the brilliantly "simple" idea — "give peace a chance."
Well! Whatever you can do to promote peaceful relations among your family,
friends, neighborhood community and so forth, it will also serve the same
energy that we are somewhat impatiently awaiting. Look within. It is not
going to happen easily. We all need to make an effort in this terrarium
that we are stuck in. As Alice Bailey used to say, "Serve where you
stand." Ponder on that. I greatly encourage your correspondence.